Former Bridgeport priest, Michael Madden, has claimed that Bishop
William Lori had threatened to send him to live with nuns after Madden
hired a private investigator to look into allegations of embezzlement
against his pastor, Fr Michael Jude Fay.
Fr Fay, later pleaded guilty to a federal fraud charge and was sentenced to three years in prison for stealing more than $1 million from St John Roman Catholic Church in Darien to support a luxurious lifestyle, AP reports.
Fr Madden, made the claim about the threat of being sent to live with nuns in a deposition for a lawsuit by the church's bookkeeper, who says she was harassed and threatened for exposing Fay's embezzlement.
Madden was asked in the deposition in June for bookkeeper Bethany D'Erario's lawsuit if church officials told him they were going to send him to a nunnery.
"Nunnery is probably not the word, but, yes, the bishop was going to pull me out of the parish that day just as I thought and send me to live with nuns," Madden said, according to the deposition, which was filed Monday in Waterbury Superior Court.
Asked if that was a punishment, Madden said, "It certainly was."
An attorney for the church on Monday denied that Bishop William Lori had threatened to punish Madden like that.
But Madden said in the court papers that church officials gave him a letter of apology to sign for hiring the investigator and that he signed it because he felt he had "little choice." His attorney declined to comment Monday.
FULL STORY @
Conn. priest: Bishop wanted to send me to the nuns (Associated Press)
Conn. whistle-blow priest says bishop scolded him (Associated Press)
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Bridgeport diocese